Eockwood ctjmmings



(No Model.)

B. CUMMINGS.

POST HOLE BIGGER.

No. 313,476. Patented Mar. 10, 1885.v

Will/3558 l/l/I/[IVI'U/i' UNITED STATES ATENT Fries.

POST-HOLE DIGGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 313,476 dated March 10, 1885. Application filed August 23, 1884. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, RooKwooD CUMMINGS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Palmetto. in the county of Campbell and State of Georgia, have invented a new and useful implement for Digging Holes in the Earth, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in post-hole diggers in which the earth is retained in the implement when the same is thrust in the ground, so that the operation of loosening the earth and removing it can be performed at the same time. I attain this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings. in which Figure l is a front View of my device; Fig. 2, a detailed view of the same; Fig. 3, a detailed view of a modification of the same de vice.

Similarletters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

My post-hole digger is formed somewhat like agarden-trowel, with the exception of my improvements; and it consists of a semi-cylindrical blade, A, with a handle, B, and cuttingedge G, the latter being formed generally on a plane at right angles to the imaginary axis of the blade, and also to the side edges, D D, of the blade. At the lower ends of the side edges, D D, at the junction of the cuttingedge C, a right-angled corner, E E, is formed on each side, and at a little distance above each of these corners the edges D D are provided with a small projection, a a, on the inside. These are formed, generally, by crimping in the edges of the blade at these points, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, or by making a solid projection inward, as shown in Fig. 3.

The operation of this device is as follows: When the blade is thrust in the ground by means of the handle B, the earth is compressed slightly at or near the projections a a, and thus retained in the blade sufficiently to raise it out of the hole. By placing these projections on the edges of the blade the dirt is held sufficiently to prevent it from falling out when the digger is lifted, and at the same time it is so slightly held that it is easily released byaslight tap of the tool on the ground or other convenient object. This reduces the labor of digging holes to a great degree, and the operation is as easily performed in holes of considerable depth as when first begun, as

the difficulty of digging holes consists, generally,in the-trouble of getting out the dirt when loosened. Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A gouge-shaped blade, A, with a suitable handle, B, having a cuttingedge, O, and side edges, D D, the latter being constructed with inward projections a a, the whole being arranged and combined substantially as set forth.

ROCKWOOD CUMMINGS. Witnesses:

H. ELLEBY, JOHN H. MEAD. 

